Level-up house rule

[maoglone]

I started running an ongoing MF game a couple months back, and my players just hit level 2. After taking a look at the relatively spartan return for reaching the next level, we decided to sweeten the pot a little bit, and provide some control over character/skill development. Here's what we came up with.

When a character levels up, they get:

-+1d to their hp (except androids; they stay at 50hp); mutants get an additional d6, pure humans get an additional d8 to their hp.
-Whatever they roll on the "Experience Level Bonuses" chart, but with one change: should they get a +1 to an ability, they get to choose the stat they want to develop.
-The character gets to choose a mutation to develop. By and large, this would entail some further ground-ruling/negotiation as to the terms of that development, but the quick-and-dirty idea is that development of beneficial mutations would improve by 1d (I sort of used the ideas covered in Mutant Omega concerning 'mutation points' et al), and detrimental mutations would halve.

For example, a mutant has the Mind Thrust mutation and chooses to develop it when he reaches Level 2. He can choose to either have the mutation do more damage (by an additional 1d6) or increase the range of the thrust by an additional 10' radius.

Another example: Mutant B suffers from Phantasmal Damage, which doubles all damage taken. When he levels up, he chooses to develop this mutation, which will halve the effects (i.e., 150% damage instead of 200% damage). Should he choose to develop the mutation again the next time he levels up, THOSE effects would be halved (i.e., 125% instead of 150%). If he chooses to develop the mutation still again, its damage effects would be rendered obsolete, though he still might, say, distantly recall the negative vibes that used to cause that extra damage.

That's what we've decided to do. If anyone else has added bits to the level-up process, I'd be interested in modifying my current game to include them, as we're still early on in the adventure.

[sniderman]

I'm not a fan of the automatic "get a die of HP upon leveling up," as Mutant Future characters already start with their CON x hit die amount of hit points. In fact, I blathered on about this on my blog back in 2009. A first level LL fighter could start at 1st level with 8 hp, but a 1st level MF mutie could start with more than 100 hp easily. No sense giving them more hp as a level reward.

However, your other two are interesting. Allowing them to choose the stat that increases is a fair way of letting them try to improve that low ability score they originally rolled. Although I like random "this is what you get," allowing them to select the stat gives the player a degree of control over his PC's development.

Developing a mutation / reducing a drawback is also intriguing. When you level up, the Experience Bonus table allows you to increase a stat, or gain a bonus to damage or attack. That's about it. Being able to improve a mutation through training and experience is a good house rule. However, I'd stretch out the improvements to once every other level. So I'd allow it at level 2, 4, 6, etc.

This is such good food-for-thought, I'm going to discuss it and link to it from Savage AfterWorld. Thanks for sharing this!

[knottyprof]

The House rules I came up with for Mutant Future leveling.

I think it is a bit more robust than the official rules and considering the high cost of XP in MF compared to some of the current RPGs that use XP charts characters should be rewarded with something substantial once they reach a new level.

Level Advancement House Rules
Every level after 1st, the character gains two advancement points. These points may be spent or saved for later as desired by the player character though the character cannot have more stored points than equal to half his level. These points may be spent to increase ability scores, hit points, advance mutations, gain additional damage with a specific weapon, gain additional number of attacks per round, or used in place of Survivor Points. There are level maximums for ability scores and number of attacks per round, and no individual ability can be raised by more than one point per level the cost of which is one advancement point. If the character wishes to spend a point for additional hit points, he gains 1d3 hit points per point spent. Points spent on increasing weapon damage can be done in one of two ways. First, a single point spent increases the damage by +1. If two points are spent, then an additional die of damage is added based on the weapon selected. Only directed attack weapons can be so increased (area of effect weapons including bombs, grenades, etc. cannot have their damage increased by this method).

In addtion, I do have "classes" and characters can spend their points to gain a class level. Examples include:
Gunslinger: Character can fire off one shot as a free action (character can use it at anytime in a round even if it isn't his turn) per round a number of times per day equal to his gunslinger level. He has to choose a particular gun (revolver, laser pistol, maser, etc...)
Medic: Character can treat one person per Medic level per day allowing the patient to heal additional hit points equal to the Medic's level. Plus the Medic treats diseases, allowing diseased character to make a saving throw versus the disease and add half the Medic's class level.

My game also has Survivor Points so if a character fails a saving throw that would result in death (a pretty common thing in MF), they can spend a Survivor point to avoid it.

So I do offer direct HP gains as a choice, it is only half a die at best and the character would be better off increasing his Con to gain a full Hit Die.